Now over the Rhine came a story of none heard theretofore, A tale of the marvellous beauty of maids on a far-away shore.
Then stirred was the spirit of Gunther to win such an one for his bride:
In the hope thereof uplifted was his heart in kingly pride.
There was a Queen of Beauty enthroned beyond the sea;
Through all the world’s wide compass was none so fair as she.
In loveliness was she peerless, and of measureless bodily might;
For she matched her with champions that wooed her in speeding the lance’s flight,
And in hurling the stone, and in leaping far as it flew through the air.
Whosoever to wife would win her, that terrible test must dare,
And in contests three overcome her, that champion-maid high-born.
Let him fail in but one of the trials, and his head from his shoulders was shorn.
Full oft that Daughter of Princes had done this ruthless thing:
But now by the Rhine her rumour came to a knightly king,
And he turned his whole heart’s longing to win that fair one to wife.
—Ah, many a knight thereafter for her sake lost his life!
(C) As once in the midst of his people the noble Gunther sat,
Much question arose, as the speech-tide flowed swiftly this way and that,
What queen among women was worthy that the King should choose her for bride,
Who should be Queen of Burgundia, and sit enthroned at his side.
Then spake the Lord of Rhineland: “I will take ship down to the sea,
And will sail to the Lady Brunhild, howsoever it fare with me.
For the love of that Queen of Women will I venture limb and life:
Yea, ready I stand to lose them, an I win her not to my wife.”
{p. 45}
“I give my counsel against it,” cried Siegfried with earnest mien;
“Such deadly-ruthless customs be practised of that dread queen,
That whoever is her love’s suitor, his head he imperilleth.
Well mayst thou advise thee rather to turn from this path of death.”
(C) Answered and spake King Gunther: “Never was woman born
So strong and so fierce of spirit, but her might were by mine outworn
Lightly, in any contest, by my single hand alone!”
“Ah hush!” made answer Siegfried, “unto thee is this woman unknown.
(C) Though four such as thou withstood her, the strength of them all were as nought
Against her terrible fury: thou therefore renounce that thought;
In loyal faith I advise thee. If with death thou be not in love,
Travail not thou to win her, for nought can come thereof.”
(C) “Be she as strong as she may be, on that journey I needs must fare
Hence unto Brunhild, befall me what may befall me there!
For the sake of her peerless beauty no peril will I decline.
Peradventure may God yet move her to follow us to the Rhine.”
“Then will I counsel,” made answer Hagen, “if this must be,
That thou make thy request unto Siegfried, that he will bear with thee
The burden of this sore travail: this rede remaineth the best,
Seeing he hath alone clear knowledge of Brunhild’s perilous test.”
Said the King, “O Siegfried belovèd, mine helper wilt thou fare
In my wooing of Brunhild the lovely? Do according to this my prayer,
And if for my bride I win her, and crown her my queenly wife,
For thee at all times will I venture honour and limb and life.”
Answered him Siegfried, the scion of Siegmund the Lowland’s lord:
“This will I do, if thou promise to give me for reward
The Lovely, the Queen of Women, Kriemhild thy sister, for bride:
For my toil for thee nor guerdon nor thank I desire beside.”
“Even this do I promise,” said Gunther, “O Siegfried, on thine hand;
And if Brunhild the lovely cometh hither to this my land,
Then will I give thee my sister to wife in requital for this;
So mayest thou with thy fair one for ever live in bliss.”
{p. 46}
Then by an oath did they pledge them, those noble warriors twain;
But thereof unto both was begotten exceeding toil and strain.
Or ever they brought into Rhineland that lady of princely blood,
In peril exceeding grievous those valiant heroes stood.
(C) Now concerning the tameless Earth-dwarfs this thing have I heard folk say,
That they dwell in the mountain-caverns, and about their heads they lay
For helmets the Hoods of Darkness, and a strange power floweth thence;
For who weareth such on his body, therein hath perfect defence
(C) From stroke of sword and from spear-thrust; while resteth on him this pall,
No man may in any wise see him, but he heareth and seeth all
So much as his soul desireth, yet himself may none behold;
And his strength to a giant’s waxeth, as the tale in our ears hath been told.
Now the Hood of Darkness Siegfried for their help at need hath ta’en,
Even that which the valiant warrior had wrested with toil and strain
From Alberich, Dwarf of the Mountain, in the stormy days gone by.
So these to their journey addressed them in their fearless chivalry.
Now whene’er the stalwart Siegfried had donned that Hood of Night,
He gat from its overscreening exceeding fulness of might;
In twelve men’s strength he clad him, as the runes of the old songs run.
So it fell, by the Dwarf-lords’ cunning that glorious bride was won.
Yea, and so wondrous-shapen was that strange cloudy Hood,
That a man overpalled by its shrouding might do even that which he would,
Yea, after his heart’s good pleasure, for of none was he espied:
Therewith did he win Queen Brunhild—and through her at the last he died.
“Now, ere we set forth on our journey, unto me, O Siegfried, declare
How best for our honour and glory over the sea we may fare.
Shall we lead ’neath our banners a war-host of knights unto Brunhild’s land?
Swiftly may thrice ten thousand be arrayed in our warrior-band.”
“How great soever the war-host that we take,” spake Siegfried to him,
“The might of that queen and her fury be so exceeding grim,
That all our array should be blasted ’neath the storm of her battle-mood.
I will give to you better counsel, O valiant thanes and good:
{p. 47}
In guise as of lone knights-errant let us sail adown the Rhine.
Touching who in our band shall be numbered, hear this counsel of mine:
With thee and with me two only let there go, none other beside,
That with these we may woo this lady, whatsoever thereafter betide.
Even I am one in the venture, the second must needs be thou,
And let the third be Hagen—fear not, we shall prosper now;—
For the fourth be chosen Dankwart, that lord of battle-might;
Then not a thousand aliens shall ever withstand us in fight.”
“Of this too,” spake King Gunther, “would I fain be certified—
For thereof should mine heart be gladdened—or ever forth we ride,
What manner of raiment in presence of Brunhild befits that we wear
Such as shall meetly beseem us: this, O Siegfried, declare.”
“In the richest of all rich vesture that is found in any land
Be arrayed evermore the people that in Brunhild’s presence stand.
Let us therefore appear before her in silk and in ermine and gold,
That none think scorn of our splendour when the tale thereafter is told.”
Answered the good thane Gunther: “Myself will go forthright
To my well-belovèd mother, if haply good in her sight
It shall be that her comely maidens may fashion attire so fair
As before that queenly lady with honour we may wear.”
Then out spake Hagen of Troneg, that lord of stately port:
“What boots it to trouble thy mother for service in such a sort?
Breathe but a word to thy sister of thy thought and thy desire,
And cunning fingers shall frame you exceeding rich attire.”
Then the King sent word to his sister that fain would he confer
With her, even he and Siegfried. But, or ever they came unto her,
That lovely one had adorned her in such royal-rich array
That with right scant heart-misgivings their coming did she stay.
Stood the ladies that waited upon her clad richly in their degree:
Then came to her bower the Princes: at their entering-in rose she
To meet them, from her high seat: ah, with what queenly grace
She greeted the noble stranger and her brother with radiant face!
{p. 48}
“Blithe welcome unto my brother, and welcome to his friend!
I am fain,” spake on that sweet one, “I am fain to know the end
Of your coming to this bower royal, what thing your hearts would crave.
I beseech you, let me hearken what the noble knights would have.”
Then spake King Gunther: “Lady, this will I tell:—we bear,
For all our knightly courage, the burden of a care.
We be minded to ride a-wooing to a strange land far away,
And fain would we have for our journey exceeding goodly array.”
“Now seat thee, belovèd brother,” that child of kings ’gan say,
“And of this thing first instruct me, what fairest of fair ones be they
Whom ye are so fain to be wooing in a strange king’s far-off land.”
And therewith those chosen chieftains did the maiden take by the hand,
And with these twain onward paced she, and seated them royally
On splendour-gleaming couches—nought passing the truth tell I—
With imagery fair-fashioned with the red gold threads entwined:
Of a truth, in that bower of ladies fair pleasure might they find!
Flashes of swift love-lightning and of yearning of the heart,
From the eyes of each unto other, well might they ofttimes dart!
For shrined in his soul he bare her; she was more unto him than life,
And ere long by noble service he won her to be his wife.
Then spake that goodly war-king: “Belovèd sister mine,
Our desire may be nowise accomplished saving with help of thine.
We would fare forth pleasure-questing to the Lady Brunhild’s land,
And knights need fair arrayal that in presence of ladies stand.”
Then spake that Daughter of Princes: “Belovèd brother mine,
If aught mine help may avail you to compass your design,
Hereof have utter assurance, I am ready to bear my part.
Yea, if another denied thee, it were pain unto Kriemhild’s heart.
O noble knight, it needs not that ye ask as in fear and doubt:
What best ye bring soever in lordly wise tell out.
Whatsoever may do you a pleasure, ready awaiteth mine aid,
And with all mine heart I do it.” So spake that winsome maid.
{p. 49}
“Our will is, sister belovèd, to array us in vesture fair,
And we pray that thine own white fingers may this our apparel prepare.
And let these thy maidens be heedful that each man be arrayed like a king;
For no gainsaying shall turn us from this our journeying.”
Answered and spake that Fair One: “To this my request give heed:
Silks have we beside us in plenty; command that one bring for our need
The gemstones that gleam on your bucklers; these on the silk will we lay.”
Thereunto Gunther and Siegfried glad-hearted answered yea.
“Now who be the journeying-fellows,” the Princess asked again,
“Who shall wend so goodly-apparelled unto where this queen doth reign?”
“Myself am the fourth: first Siegfried; two of my liegemen withal,
Dankwart and Hagen, shall journey with us to her palace-hall.
Heed well, O sister belovèd, what now unto thee we say:—
See to it, that we four comrades three several times a day
May through four days change our raiment, and still go gorgeously,
So that none, when we pass from her country, may scoff at our bravery.”
With outpouring of thanks, from her chamber then passed they in knightly wise.
Then to seek help of her women did Kriemhild the princess arise,
And of all her bower-maidens thirty summoned she
Which above all others were cunning in needle-mastery.
On white Arabian samite—as the snow was its pearly sheen—
And on far-fetched velvet of Orient, as the springtide clover green,
Laid they the flashing gemstones,—O rich was the vesture and rare,
For by hands of Kriemhild the lovely were the garments shapen fair.
Sea-otter furs and sealskins for lining thereof chose they,
A marvel to all beholders—was never such rich array!—
And with silk did they overlay them, and drew the seams with gold.
Sooth, many a marvellous story of the splendour thereof hath been told.
Out of the land of the Morians came the goodliest silk on earth,
And from sun-smitten plains of Libya: on children of royal birth
Was ne’er seen costlier vesture; and of these was enough and to spare.
And through all the threadwork woven was the love that Kriemhild bare.
{p. 50}
For the costly raiment craved for by those far-voyagers
She lavished with love ungrudging the ermine’s argent furs—
Soft whiteness gleaming whiter for its flecks of coal-black hue—
Such as valorous knights wear proudly in a great king’s retinue.
Out of bezels of gold of Arabia the glorious gemstones gleamed:
For those watchful eyes no smallest pearl too tiny seemed.
So fashioned they all that raiment ere seven weeks fleeted away:
And withal for the good knights ready by this was their war-array.
Now when all at the last lay ready, men saw by the Rhine-river strand
A galley of stout oak builded by the cunning craftsman’s hand,
Wherein down Rhine-flood the heroes on to the sea should be borne.
And by this were the noble maidens by their labour of love outworn.
Then they sent to the knights the message that ready all things were
In the which they would fain go bravely, that raiment passing-fair;
Accomplished was all they had prayed for, and the labour of love was done.
Now therefore beside Rhine-river no more would they linger on.
So then to those gallant comrades was a message from Kriemhild brought
To come and behold the apparel that her hands had newly wrought,
If perchance for the heroes’ wearing it were over short or long:
And behold, it was all just measure, and they thanked that maiden-throng.
Into whosesoever presence they came, all men must say
That never on earth had they looked on more passing-fair array.
Blithe-hearted might they wear it in the palace of proudest queen,
For of goodlier knights’ apparel had none or heard or seen.
So then to these noble maidens all-courteous thanks they gave.
And now must the bold knights-errant for leave of parting crave.
With courtesy right gentle they spake their last farewell:
Ah, then were there bright eyes troubled and dim as the tears fast fell.
She spake: “O brother belovèd, ’twere better that here ye stayed—
Yea, wiselier done I account it—and wooed some other maid
Where ye should not thus be enforcèd to hazard limb and life:
Ye should find in a land near-lying no less a high-born wife.”
{p. 51}
Already their hearts foreboded the trouble darkening near.
All needs must weep, whatsoever words were spoken of cheer:
The gold on their bosoms gleaming grew dim with the hot tears stained,
With the tears that aye fell earthward from sorrowing eyes down-rained.
Then spake she: “O Lord Siegfried, to thy love and thy loyalty
Hereby do I commit him, this brother belovèd of me,
That nothing of peril harm him afar in Brunhild’s land.”
And the hero pledged him, and swore it on the Lady Kriemhild’s hand.
And he spake, that noble war-thane: “So long as endure my days,
No shadow of trouble, Princess, shall fall across thy ways.
I will bring him back into Rhineland—I swear it by life and limb!—
By peril unscathed.” Low bowed she with soft eyes thanking him.
Their shields with the red gold gleaming down to the shore bare they;
And they laid withal in the galley their goodly war-array;
And aboard men led their horses: on the decks now stand their feet—
O me, what bitter weeping brake forth from maidens sweet!
Now thronged was many a casement with ladies lovely-eyed,
And a great wind lifted the galley as they shook the white sails wide.
So out on the Rhine they floated, those proud hearts, bound for the sea.
Then answered and spake King Gunther: “Our pilot, who shall he be?”
“Even that will I,” said Siegfried: “from hence on can I steer
Your ship on the flood, stout heroes; thereof have ye no fear;
For the printless paths of the waters unto me be throughly known.”
So are these from the land Burgundian with hearts exultant gone.
Then Siegfried set hand to a massy staff such as shipmen wield,
And the ship at his mighty thrusting out from the wharf-side reeled.
Gunther the dauntless hero on the tiller hath laid his hand:
So the glorious war-swift champions swung out clear from the land.
Of meats they bare rich plenty, and therewithal good wine,
The best that from foaming wine-fats was pressed beside the Rhine;
The while their horses rested each tethered safe in stall:
The keel slid onward so smoothly, no hurt might to these befall.
{p. 52}
The wind in the strong-twined sail-ropes drew with unresting might:
Twice ten miles onward they fleeted ere sank over earth the night;
Down stream so slid they seaward with a breeze that followed fast.
—Ah me, but their stalwart labour brought sorrow enow at the last!
And now with the twelfth day’s dawning, as singeth the ancient lay,
The wind in the white sails straining had borne them far on their way
Unto Isenstein the fortress, the hold in Brunhild’s land.
All strange, save only to Siegfried, it seemed to that warrior-band.
When its coronal of towers was beheld of Gunther the King,
And the land’s wide-sweeping marches, he spake sore marvelling:
“Make answer to me, friend Siegfried, dost thou know yonder strand?
Unto whom appertain these castles, unto whom that lordly land?
Never in all my life-days—this thing I needs must own—
Fortress so goodly-builded mine eyes unto me have shown,
No, not in any country, as this that here we see.
He which could rear it skyward, a mighty man was he!”
Answered and spake to him Siegfried: “Yea, well do I know all these:
The land and its diadem fortress, they be Brunhild’s seignories,
And Isenstein yon fortress, even that whereof I have told:
There many a lovely lady this day shall your eyes behold.
Now hearken my counsel, ye heroes: be ye one and all in a tale,
And with one accord affirm ye—this only, I trow, shall avail:
For if to the presence of Brunhild this day we go, I ween,
We must needs be exceeding wary who stand before that queen.
When we see that lovely lady amidst her knightly train,
One thing, O far-famed heroes, must ye for truth maintain,
How that Gunther is my liege-lord, and I his vassal alone:
So that which his heart hath longed for shall by this device be won[7].”
{p. 53}
Then the heroes all consented, even as he counselled, to do.
Was none so proud of spirit that he dared say nay thereto.
So they spake even after his bidding; and for them full well was it done,
When Gunther the King beheld her, Brunhild the lovely one.
“Thus I abase me,” said Siegfried, “not for thy love alone,
But to win thy sister, the fairest of maidens, for mine own.
She is unto me as mine own soul, she is dear unto me as my life.
Blithe am I to render service that shall get her to me for wife.”